1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a charging apparatus for an electrically-powered vehicle.
2. Description of the Background
Along with the popularization of electrically-powered vehicles such as electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles, an increasing number of charging apparatuses for charging electrically-powered vehicles have been installed at parking areas of shopping malls, restaurants, convenience stores, and the like. It is preferable for such charging apparatuses to be capable of charging a plurality of electrically-powered vehicles effectively and rapidly.
In the related art, there has been known a charging apparatus that includes a rapid charger having a plurality of charging ports, and even-charging control means and preferential-charging control means to control the rapid charger (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2012-55028). The even-charging control means causes electrically-powered vehicles connected to the charging ports in use to be charged evenly and sequentially at a predetermined frequency. In contrast, when it is determined that charging to an electrically-powered vehicle with scheduled leaving time specified is not completed by the scheduled leaving time according to charging with the even-charging control means, the preferential-charging control means performs charging on the electrically-powered vehicle intensively prior to other electrically-powered vehicles.
According to a charging apparatus in the related art, an electrically-powered vehicle can be preferentially charged owing to that scheduled leaving time is specified by its user.